Vijayawada: The Municipalities (Amendment) Bill-2017, introduced in the Assembly, created anxiety among the elected representatives as it would nullify the powers of the elected local bodies. The commissioners of the respective municipal corporations will become the supreme power centres in the days to come.
Already, a few senior TD leaders have decided to meet the Chief Minister over the same, as it is going to affect the status of elected representatives in the municipalities and municipal corporations. "We will have to remain as rubber stamps in the municipal corporations from hereafter," lamented a municipal chairman.
The Assembly approved two Government bills -the AP Municipalities (Amendment) Bill and AP Rent Control Bill, 2011, on Wednesday. The Municipalities Bill will empower the commissioners with more powers than the Council, as the word 'Council' has been removed and it is substituted with the word 'commissioner'.
According to Section 184 (4) (ii) of the AP Municipalities Act-1965, all layouts indicating sub-divisions of land, however small they are, are approved by the Council. But, as per the provisions made under the Municipal Corporations Act-1955, the executive authority, i.e. the commissioner is competent to approve layouts, according to Minister for Municipal Adminis-tration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Dr P. Narayana.
As part of ease of doing business, with regard to layout permission online, i.e. through Andhra Pradesh Development Permission Management System (APDPMS), the state government has decided to make suitable amendments to the AP Municipalities Act, 1965 empowering the 'commissioner' as layout approval and recommending authority in municipalities on par with his/her counterpart in municipal corporation and also such approval shall be placed before the Council for record, explained Dr. Narayana. "With respect to the municipal corporations, the commissioner is the competent authority for approval of layouts under Sections 388 to 391 of the Municipal Corporations Act-1955," the minister said.
